After days of heavy rainfall, a hillside landfill collapsed in the Philippines last week, burying dozens of people. As of Monday night, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) reported that ten bodies had been recovered. Some 26 people were still believed to be missing. This morning, the Police Regional Office is reporting that the death toll has since risen, with at least one more fatality confirmed.
The landslide occurred last Thursday in Cebu City, around 570 kilometres south of the capital, Manila. According to media reports, a slope roughly 20 storeys high gave way at the Prime Waste Solution sanitary landfill in Binaliw, engulfing an adjacent recycling facility as well as several residential buildings.
Fire service officials said that around 110 people had been on site at the time of the collapse. Rescue workers were able to pull 70 people from the debris. Around 12 had been taken to hospital with various injuries. According to mayor Nestor Archival, personnel from government agencies, the armed forces, the fire brigade, emergency services and non-governmental organisations were involved in the response. As many as 330 rescue workers had been on site at times.
The Philippines has been grappling with structural weaknesses in waste management for many years. Open landfills, especially those located near low-income communities, are considered a significant safety risk. The scale of the problem became tragically apparent in 2000, when heavy rainfall caused a vast waste slide in a slum area of Quezon City, killing more than 200 people. Although stricter rules were introduced in response, their implementation is generally viewed as insufficient (dpa/EUWID).
